1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of electromagnetic induction well logging for determining the resistivity of earth formations penetrated by wellbores. More specifically, the invention determines a most likely value of resistivity of a highly conductive earth formation using an induction tool having a finite, non-zero conductivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electromagnetic induction resistivity instruments can be used to determine the electrical conductivity of earth formations surrounding a wellbore. An electromagnetic induction well logging instrument is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,761 issued to Beard et al. The instrument described in the Beard et al '761 patent includes a transmitter coil and a plurality of receiver coils positioned at axially spaced apart locations along the instrument housing. An alternating current is passed through the transmitter coil. Voltages which are induced in the receiver coils as a result of alternating magnetic fields induced in the earth formations are then measured. The magnitude of certain phase components of the induced receiver voltages are related to the conductivity of the media surrounding the instrument.
As is well known in the art, the magnitude of the signals induced in the receiver coils is related not only to the conductivity of the surrounding media (earth formations) but also to the frequency of the alternating current. At higher alternating current frequencies, the signals induced in the receiver coils are generally smaller than the signals which are induced at lower frequencies because of the so-called “skin effect”. Worse still, the magnitude of the skin effect is also related to the conductivity itself at any particular frequency. While it would appear that merely reducing the frequency of the alternating current would reduce the skin effect in the resulting measurements, it is also known in the art that the magnitude of the induced signals in the receiver coils is proportional to the frequency of the alternating current. Using higher frequencies is desirable in order to enhance the accuracy with which the conductivity can be determined when the conductivity is small.
An advantageous feature of the instrument described in Beard '761 is that the alternating current flowing through the transmitter coil includes a plurality of different component frequencies. Having a plurality of different component frequencies in the alternating current makes possible more accurate determination of the apparent conductivity of the media surrounding the instrument by using various methods of estimating the induced signal magnitude that would be obtained in the various receiver coils if the frequency of the alternating current were zero.
One method for estimating the magnitude of signals that would be obtained at zero frequency is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,057, issued to Beard et al., entitled, “Method for Skin Effect Correction and Data Quality Verification for a Multi-Frequency Induction Well Logging Instrument”. The method of Beard '057 in particular, and other methods for skin effect correction in general, are designed only to determine skin effect corrected signal magnitudes, where the induction logging instrument is fixed at a single position within the earth formations. A resulting drawback to the known methods for skin effect correction of induction logs is that they do not fully account for the skin effect on the induction receiver response within earth formations including layers having high contrast in the electrical conductivity from one layer to the next. If the skin effect is not accurately determined, then the induction receiver responses cannot be properly adjusted for skin effect, and as a result, the conductivity (resistivity) of the earth formations will not be precisely determined.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,227, issued to Rabinovich et al., having the same assignee as the present invention, is a method of adjusting induction receiver signals for skin effect in an induction logging instrument including a plurality of spaced apart receivers and a transmitter generating alternating magnetic fields at a plurality of frequencies. The method includes the steps of extrapolating measured magnitudes of the receiver signals at the plurality of frequencies, detected in response to alternating magnetic fields induced in media surrounding the instrument, to a response which would be obtained at zero frequency. A model of conductivity distribution of the media surrounding the instrument is generated by inversion processing the extrapolated magnitudes. Rabinovich '227 works under the assumption that the induction tool device has perfect conductivity. In a measurement-while-drilling device, this assumption does not hold.
Multi-frequency focusing (MFF) is an efficient way of increasing depth of investigation for electromagnetic logging tools. It is being successfully used in wireline applications, for example, in processing and interpretation of 3DEX data. MFF is based on specific assumptions regarding behavior of electromagnetic field in frequency domain. For MWD tools mounted on metal mandrels, those assumptions are not valid. Particularly, the composition of a mathematical series describing EM field at low frequencies changes when a very conductive body is placed in the vicinity of sensors. Only if the mandrel material were perfectly conducting, would MFF be applicable. There is a need for a method of processing multi-frequency data acquired with real MWD tools having finite non-zero conductivity. The present invention satisfies this need.